SAS & 302... planning for my summer project

[scramblin]

I got word back about my Tcase last week, and it is totally shot. I went and looked at the oil..and it was loaded with metal shavings.
Also the Superlift 4" is not cutting it for me.

SOOOO....

MOTOR:I bought a 302 (bored to 306)HO motor out of a 87' GT from a buddy of mine monday night. Keith black pistons..1.6 roller rockers... GT40 heads!!.. ford motorsports distributor and wires (Brand new). Came with a computer from a 92' Cobra.

TRANSMISSION:I am buying section125's old 4r70W tranny within the next month. I've talked to my tranny guy about it and hes going to research on what to do t beefen the tranny up a little. (Minor rebuild). Can you all give me some suggestions? Tranny guy told me he was going to add more clutches for sure.

Transfer Case???: What are my options here? I have searched around and have not found to much. I dont want the stock tcase because I want a lower low gear. I belive that the Dana20 bolts up to this tranny? Id rather not get a D20 though (only a 2.3:1 (or somewhere around there) Low gear, but I dont know what other options I have?

Suspension:

I have not decided on axles yet. I am defiantly ditching the IFS and the stock 8.8. I would keep the 8.8 but I want to swap full sized axles on. I assume the easiest solution would be EB D44 and 9". I have looked around (slowly) over the past month and I have not found any good deals on axles that are within driving distance from me. Can yall give me some other year and model of vehciles to look at? Must be 5 on 5.5 because I have a leftover set of Rockcrawler wheels from my old CJ.

FRONT: I want to do coilovers on the front with a cage built across the motor and I will be trimming alot more fender than I did with my superlift4" and 3"BL. I am going for maximum articulation and I will also be driving this daily once it is fixed up. I need some opinions on 3-4-or-5 link suspension on the front end. Are there any major advantages or disadvantages to either?

REAR:For now I am just simply going to do a Spring Over in the rear becuase I am not going to have the money for new drivetrain and front and rear ends. It is in my futute plans to swap to coils (Mabye even coilovers) in the rear with a 3-4-5 link suspension.

Me a buddy of mine and his cousin will be doing all of the work in his counsins shop. They race dwarf cars and mustangs and motorcycles....There whole family is "Car(race) orientated"... anyways, his cousin designs all of the suspensions and steering and frames on there dwarf cars and can weld and fabricate like a God. Also the buddy of mine is in his 3rd year (college) doesnt have a major yet, but is taking every electronic class he can. His dad is also an electrician working for tyson foods.

I just need help with all of my planning and getting my parts together. So, lets hear what there is to say... What am I missing? I know I havent wrote any about steering because I have not figured that out yet. I do need some tips there though.

Thanks alot guys,
kendal

 

[Yomie]

So what are you doing with the superlift? Dibs!

As far as t-case's go, if your going that far, you can get an atlas II with a 3.8 low for ~$1999 (talk to Cory L) They do sell atlas' with 4.3 low also (but more $$$)

 

[RFR2212]

um transfercase, all I can say is for the d20 they've got krawler gear sets available. I dunno tho how much power they can handle.

Dunno if a d300 can go to that transmission er not. They also have krawler gear sets available, 4:1 fer both, I'm pretty sure.

Expensive but will last and has the gears... Atlas II.

Most of the 4:1 gear sets I've seen go for 800+ bucks and then the t-case can be found for 100-200 then a rebuild kit is like 100 at most.

If you're doing coilovers in the front end, so the motor swap and all that first, and then you'll be okay, in building the cage for the coil overs later on. Sounds like it's gonna be alot for a daily driver...

How big of a tire ya gonna run?

 

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...

Hey man,

I will have the superlift up for sale in Mid-May and you can have first dibs on it. I have not come up with a price yet though. I have been following Gage's trailmaster 4" lift for sale for 800 (with no shocks or rear lift springs)
My superlift is only one month old!!! And it will only have 1 month of use on it this summer also. (Because the explorer is parked for a while right now).

I would love to go with an Atlas tcase but, that is defiantly out of my budget right now. I wonder if theres anyway to fit a Dana300 to the 4r70w? If so, I have a twin stick shifter that I never got to instill on my old CJ.. just sitting in my garage. And you can also swap out the gears of a D300 to have a 4.1:1 low range

 

[scramblin]

...

RFR2212...yea i am also weary of the strength of a D20. This motor was built and raced in my buddys mustang but he wrecked the mustang that the motor was in, so hes parting it out. So, it was built to have quite a bit of power... he ran 11.1's consitantly and dropped to mid-low 10s when he had a 150HP of nos hooked up.


I defiantly plan on swapping the motor in before we fab up the front end. His cousin built me (for my old CJ) a motor roll bar that had shock mounts up at the top of the motor for some Very long travelling shocks) . So he is going to be doing basically the same thing for the explorer that he did for the CJ.

As for tires, I already have a set of 35 x 1250 baja clawas, so I am going to run those until the tread is down. Then I am going to look for a 37"... Unless i find a tire that I like better then it will be 37 MTR's...

thanks for the replies

 

[scramblin]

...

I found an awesome deal on a used BW1354 tcase, so I belive I am going to go ahead and buy it so that I can have a car to drive for the next two months.

I need to verfy sometihng first though. Isnt there an adaptor made to bolt a 1354 to a 4r70W tranny?

And will the 1354 handle a mildly built 5.0?

Thanks,
Kendal

 

[CoryL]

Re: ...

Originally posted by scramblin
I found an awesome deal on a used BW1354 tcase, so I belive I am going to go ahead and buy it so that I can have a car to drive for the next two months.

I need to verfy sometihng first though. Isnt there an adaptor made to bolt a 1354 to a 4r70W tranny?

And will the 1354 handle a mildly built 5.0?

Thanks,
Kendal

Is the 4R70W coming off of a V8 or 4.0L? The V8s came with 31 spline output shafts and the 4.0Ls came with the 25 spline shafts (I think).

The BW 1354 requires a 25 spline shaft and a 5-bolt "star" pattern adapter.

The 1354 may last. Depends on your driving habits and types of wheeling you will encounter. I've seen guys with a ragged out 4.0L destroy them not even trying. I've also seen guys with 5.0Ls somehow keep them alive (very cautious).

So which 4R70W are you using? I think Advance Adapters makes one for it...Let me know (send me an email) and I can get you a price.

Also...the D300 to my knowledge was a passengerside drop. Not sure, but I think there was a rare driver side drop.

 

[RiverRat]

Re: ...

Originally posted by scramblin
I found an awesome deal on a used BW1354 tcase, so I belive I am going to go ahead and buy it so that I can have a car to drive for the next two months.

I need to verfy sometihng first though. Isnt there an adaptor made to bolt a 1354 to a 4r70W tranny?

And will the 1354 handle a mildly built 5.0?

Thanks,
Kendal

Yeah there is an adaptor. I just installed it into the 4R70W. The tranny is still on the bench so I don't know how it will all work out yet. You got a sweet project going on! I want SAS next

 

[scramblin]

Hey,


The 4r70w is coming off of section125's 2wd V8. So that makes it a 31 spline?

They 1354 is coming off of a 90's ranger. My old man is a buddy with the owner of a local salvage yard, so he cut me a deal for one for 100 bucks.



I picked the tcase up fri. and got it cleaned and painted up over the weekend. I wont have time to out it in till next weekend though.

CORYL...I'm going to send you a PM in a week or two about a pricing on some Coilovers...

Thanks,
Kendal

 

[RiverRat]

As far as I know the 31 spline refers to the rear axle not the tranny.

 

[scramblin]

Update

I got the 1354 almost hooked up this weekend. I couldnt get the shifter to fit in right, but I didn't have to much time to spend on it. I am driving it around in 2wd now though!

I am going to be picking up a D44 Axle Housing this weekend. A buddy of mine bought the whole axle for cheap, but decided it was too much trouble for him to build it up. He stripped the shafts and brakes off and is going to give me the housing for free. I will be able to use the housing to get my front end set-up so that when I do find my front axle, it will "bolt" right up.

As soon as my tax returns come in I will be able to start buying things!

Peace,
Kendal

 

[scramblin]

UPDATE...

Heres a pic of the motor:

 

[scramblin]

...

My buddy just bought an LS1 motor out of an 00' Vette that was wrecked becuase he got an Awesome deal on it. Motor comes with the complete engine wiring harness, computer, a/c, and EVERYTHING else

Also, the 302 in his mustang is on its last leg. He's willing to trade the vette motor to get his 302 (the one he sold me) back +400.00.
So, I can trade my 302 plus 400 bucks for an LS1.
Any chance of getting that to fit in my explorer? I've been doing some research about the rest of the drivetrain combo, and here is what I am thinking.
LS1 motor
4l60 or 700r4 tranny
Dana 300
I already have a Dana 300 w/ twin stick sitting in my garage. (left over from my old CJ)

Heres some pictures:

 

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[Brian1]

Re: Re: ...

Originally posted by CoryL
Also...the D300 to my knowledge was a passengerside drop. Not sure, but I think there was a rare driver side drop.

Correct, Dana 300's are passenger drops. I have never seen a driver side dropped stock D300. There is a company that makes a dana 300 flip kit so you can run it as a driver drop but with the cost of that kit and lower gears you are better off with an Atlas.

Sounds like a sweet project!

 

[scramblin]

...

I know the 5.0 swap would be easier, because it has already been done and 5.0's come in explorers.
But the though of the LS1 motor having 345 HP and 350 lb-ft. stock Reallly makes me want it. The LS1 has 20,000-25,000 miles on it while my 302 has over 100,000. The 302 to has been rebuilt but, has also been raced pretty hard in a mustang.

I plan on removing my superlift and dropping the explorer back to stock height . Once the motor swap is complete then I will tackle the SAS.

Any thoughts or suggestions???

Thanks,
Kendal

 

[scramblin]

...

My D300 is a passenger side drop. Since, I will be doing a SAS, What would be my options for an axle with a passenger side pumpkin?

kendal

 

[Brian1]

Chevy Dodge and Jeep have passenger side drops between certain years, generally 70's - early 80's. You can get a Dana 44 out of a wagoneer or a chevy truck 1/2 ton (make sure it isnt a 10 bolt). Then you could still use the 9" rear. Chevy and Jeep use a 6 lug pattern so you would have to adapt the 9" bolt pattern.